Altcoins 101: Definition, Explanations, Examples

  • Altcoin is short for “alternative coin” and — as the name suggests — is an alternative cryptocurrency to Bitcoin.
  • Altcoins have become a major segment of the cryptocurrency markets, with projects like Ethereum (ETH), Stellar Lumens (XLM), and Uniswap (UNI) distinguishing themselves as platforms with innovative capabilities.
  • The altcoin markets are characterized for their volatility and are highly speculative investments subject to speculation.
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Since the emergence of Bitcoin, the concept of a decentralized, trustless peer-to-peer (P2P) payment network has inspired an entire class of digital assets. The crypto markets are a product of Bitcoin’s success, and the fast-growing space consists of more than 9,000 altcoins.

Now we have altcoins, which began to emerge in 2011 in an attempt to reinvent Bitcoin, with their own rules and improvements on different features.

What is an altcoin? 

Altcoin is a cryptocurrency

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